Genealogy Chat

I am curious to know if it was easy to avoid being included on the census forms - were many people missed? I wonder if the census information was used by the police to trace people/criminals who had disappeared? I am particularly interested in this as my grandfather isnt with his family in 1891 but reappears in 1901 with a different first name. It seems that, according to my aunt, sometime before the 1891 census he was in some sort of trouble and that the family did a 'midnight flit' leaving their neighbourhood quickly. Did he deliberately avoid being listed anywhere on the 1891 census? Elaine

Elaine I don't think anyone without the resources of a computer would be able to chase up a criminal in the thousands of census forms - it wasn't even on microfilm to start with remember. It's hard enough to find a relative in a specific area, but if you don't know where in the country to look I should think it about impossible. It would require a vast number of man-hours and even if you found the person, if the crime was serious enough to warrant all that wading through paper, the criminal wouldn't be daft enough to be still waiting when months or years later you found his address. Of course your relative may have been missed off the 1891 census, but I think most people were recorded - the relatives I can't find on censuses are turning up mistranscribed. nell

When you look at the images of the census you see where it says house empty so I suppose they could avoid being included on the census if they were on the run.Think of people sleeping rough in parks.How are they counted

I don't suppose penalties were imposed for failing to provide census information back then, and even if there were, it would have been difficult to enforce. My family & I will not be included in the 2001 census, I requested additional forms because there are 6 of us, the form only had room for 5, I never received them so the rest got thrown out. (Not realsing how important it was then!) Like Margaret says though, our 'empty' house maybe spotted. I expect you have tried all variations of his name, post it along with your 1901 info, if you like, I'll have a look. Sam *The plural of census is censuses..forgive me Debby ;)

I think also that some enumerators were more conscientious about it than others. I've found entries for people sleeping in doorways and in one village a man who lived in the cowshed. nell

I was surprised the other day when I was searching the 1861 census for Derbyshire for someone to come across several pages at the end of the parish saying 'People not living in houses' and all their details then listed. I assume, as Nell says, that these were people sleeping rough or of no fixed abode as it would be known these days. I'd never seen it before so avoiding being included on a census was probably harder than I'd originally thought. There's always the possibility though that if for whatever reason he didn't want to be found, he could simply have lied about who he was when filling in the form. Lou

Hi Sammy, my g.grandfathers name was William Shepherd b.1849 Colchester Essex. He's in the 1881 census living with his wife Matilda and children as a confectioner in Colchester. Cant find him in 1891. In 1901 he is Walter Shepherd age 52, baker journeyman and is with his wife Matilda and children in Brighton. Elaine

Hi all, Perhaps we ought to start up an 'unusual living place' topic. I wonder if many people lived in cowsheds? When I was a child I saw a rather rough looking old lady living in a room next to the greyhound kennels at Wembley Stadium. This was in the 1960's!

It wasn't only adults or whole failies that were missed or avoidend the census. I have a greatgrandmother born April 1900 who is not on the 1901 census despite the rest of the family being inluded. (Smiley Sammy - Census comes from Latin. Unless Census is an irregaular verb the plural should be Censi, the samr with prospectus being prospecti and octopus being occtipi. The gener al rule was #us to #i where # is the prefix. The moden worls uses #uses because it is easier to remember)

On one London census - I think Marylebone in 1871, the enumerator keeps on writing 'lodger took schedule with him'. It is also said that where houses were in multiple occupancy it is often easy to miss a family living in the cellar. I do not know whether my family were unusually law-abiding, but I have located virtually everyone, though I've needed indexes (indices?!) for servants away from home and an awful lot of serendipity, especially when the workhouse isn't even in the same registration district. B

1841 '... every person refusing to answer or wilfully giving a false answer to such questions, or any of them, shall for every such refusal or wilfully false answer shall forfeit a sum not more than five pounds or less than forty shillings (£2) at the discretion of any Justice of the Peace or Magistrate before whom complaint thereof shall be made.'

Hallo Geoff! Yes, but how would they know you had given false info? If you tell the enumerator your daughter is called Fanny and she is 5 how would they know she was really Joan and 6? nell

the most unusual dwelling I found was a rock bank in Dunoon for a family of 8??? I must point out it has not been proven that I'm related to the rock bank people much to the disappointment of my husband.

Hallo Nell! WILFUL Nell, WILFUL! When a half-literate person writes by the light of a flickering candle flame with seventeen kids running wild, who's to know if it should say Smoothy or Lenorthey? (or Smoothey or Lenorthy - sorry I've forgotten the correct mis-spelling!)

Well I think it was easier than we think to avoid the census and I think people did. I would if I could!! Nosy b*****.

Yeah, just hide upstairs for a few days before making sure the neighbours think that you've gone out of town then just wait until after the census was done to return to normal life for 10 years, then repeat.

I sent you a message Eliane, but carried on looking in 1891. It's taken me flippin' ages to find the family. They weren't even Shepherd were they!!!! I'm still looking for William, I wonder why Matilda is down as Wife & not Head, as William wasn't there, maybe he was with them, but just got missed out Sam

I found a chap up in Northumberland on one of the censuses, whose address was 'Haystack' and who gave his occupation as 'Head Tramp'. I can only suppose they had an extremely diligent enumerator in that area! Of course, I don't know how many people he failed to list - but I would be prepared to bet most of them belonged to my family! Tina

Sam, What do you mean they weren't Shepherd?? They were. Thanks for spending so much time on it all. Have just sent (about 10 mins ago) you a message back. Dunno where William was - I reckon he was hiding. If only I had a time machine and could travel back to 1891....! Elaine

Hi all, I'm finding these 'unusual living places' a real hoot. Fancy finding your ggg.grandfather in a haystack!!!! ...whatever would he have been doing there...?!! Elaine